Mumbai : Vidya Balan has got everyone talking about her fierce avatar in the recently released trailer of ‘Begum Jaan’.
Director Srijit Mukherji, at the trailer launch, revealed how Vidya completely transformed herself to no-nonsense brothel madam.
“Before we started shooting ‘Begum Jaan’, we organised two workshops simultaneously. One with Vidya, another with girls… because Vidya is a jovial down-to-earth person and she easily mingles with everybody on set and I didn’t want that. I wanted certain kind of distance with the girls from Vidya,” he said.
“Vidya used to ask many questions during the workshop like what the memories of ‘Begum Jaan’ were when she was three, when she was first exploited or what happened when she got married. So at the end of the workshop, I had already completed writing four scripts… one ‘Begum Jaan’ and others are the prequels and sequels. I had to keep ready all the backstories of ‘Begum Jaan’ and the girls,” added Sirijit.
“After the workshop when Vidya entered the set, I saw Begum Jaan who is a fierce, manipulative no-nonsense kind of woman, walking in. There was no trace of Vidya Balan,” he said at the event held on Tuesday.
On a related note, the flick is a Hindi adaptation of Bengali film ‘Rajkahini’ that marks the National award winning filmmaker’s debut in Bollywood.
The ‘Kahaani’ star, who is seen hurling abuses in the trailer, also talked about her character as she said, “It was very easy for me, as I abuse everyday; (Laughs) No, I do not! The place where she comes from she abuses a lot and easily. It’s no big deal. When I was playing the role there was no apprehension with regards to the language. I can’t be Begum Jaan and speak shayarana Urdu.”
The 38-year-old also talked about personalizing the problems of prostitutes.
“As a student of Sociology, I knew academically what the problem related to prostitution in India is. But while filming, I started personalising their problems, I realised the difficulties of their lives in depth. The exploitation of one’s body, the trade of body is never easy.”
“Hence there is always an anger. So I vent out all my anger in this film. If I didn’t have a line while shooting, I would say cuss words. With the way this film is, and the way the film’s background is, it is easy to abuse,” added the ‘Humari Adhuri Kahani’ star.
Produced by Mukesh Bhatt, the film also stars Ila Arun, Gauahar Khan, Pallavi Sharda, Ridheema Tiwary, Ashish Vidyarthi, Chunky Pandey and Rajit Kapoor in pivotal roles.
The movie is scheduled for release on April 14.
–ANI